From Ghatkopar’s slums to the sophisticated casteism of the city, journalist Rakshit Sonawane’s semi-autobiographical book tackles a tough story — one that demands to be told
Rakshit Sonawane
Rakshit Sonawane gave up his cushy job in the Bombay Port Trust (BPT) and joined his first job as a journalist at mid-day in 1985. Today at the age of 68, Sonawane’s book, Scum of the Earth, is due to be released on September 2. Why did this book take so long, we ask him; he replies, “I have found when we speak about casteism many people often feel that in 2025 and in a city like Mumbai, caste doesn’t exist. I want them to understand how misguided that notion is.”
Sonawane talks about himself through the eyes of Avinash, a boy born in a home where Dr Ambedkar and Buddhism were the guiding philosophy. Avinash (aka Sonawane) who studied in school where there was no dearth of savarna kids who reminded him about the caste divide was a testament to how caste is taught from adults to children. “Another reason I wanted to write this book now was the fact that a lot of constitutional safeguards have been subverted by liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation (LPG) . While caste prejudices still exist, LPG has shrunk government recruitment in which reservation is provided. Besides, the quota for EWS shuts out poor Dalits, who are not easily welcomed in the open category,” he says.
The book traces Avinash’s journey along with his father Dagadoo, mother Godavari and his paternal uncle Hari who are invested in making sure that the young bright boy doesn’t lose out on a better future than their present. Avinash then works in a manufacturing factory while studying in college and ends up quitting the job due to horrible working conditions and finally joins BPT but soon realises that he is unable to find a calling in it.
“While I was working in BPT I wanted to pursue a career in journalism and whenever I went for an interview, more often than subtle ways of inquiring about my caste would happen by the editors who were taking these interviews,” he said. “It was mid-day that gave me my first break; I moved to another daily in the city after two years but mid-day was the first,” he added.
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Sonawane also feels that young Dalits today often do not remember the struggle and the importance of knowing the fight to be able to work in a port or a newsroom. “Again I feel this is an equally important reason for me to write the book. Young Dalit men and women like any other men and women have become victims to consumerism and our need to buy the next phone or jump on the next social media trend,” he adds. “The book, I hope, will give perspective to them about our past and how the choices they make will determine the future,” he adds.
In his now 40 years of journalism the book ends on how casteism is a open secret about the profession, seen in the ending when Avinash becomes the head of a new team but the very next day all his members either quit on the spot or give their notice. “My editor at the time was based out of Delhi and he didn’t give much weight to this thinking, and neither did I. Which is why I have ended on a positive note. Like my father would often say, don’t be a victim of your circumstance, I was raised to not be a complainer,” he adds.
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